Following yesterday’s inauguration, President Trump followed through on his prior statements that he would quickly be issuing numerous Executive Orders. He authorized 47 Presidential Actions last night alone - I’ve run statistics on the Actions and provided summaries below. Unsurprisingly, much of the impact of these actions is to undo Executive Orders issued by former President Biden. Not many of these directly relate to my own professional interests (i.e., emerging technology), but there were a few notable cases, as I’ll discuss below. If you’re interested in a summary of each Action, you can find that at the end of this post.

Breaking it Down

Of the 47 Actions, 26 were Executive Orders, 5 were Presidential Proclamations, 12 were Presidential Memoranda, and 4 were some other type of Presidential Action. Here it is in pretty chart form.

Ok…but what’s the difference between an EO, a proclamation, a memorandum, and whatever “other” is? There is no clear legal definition, but the following is a guide to how each is generally characterized:

• Executive Orders: these generally carry the force of law (if the President has actual authority to make such an order) and are required to be published in the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations. They often direct Government agencies and officials to undertake certain actions.

• Presidential proclamations: in the current environment, these are more ceremonial and generally don’t carry the force of law, unless the Constitution or federal statute give the President authority. These actions generally concern the activity of private individuals.

• Presidential memoranda: These have no legal weight; they are not required to cite any legal authority, do not have to be printed in the Federal Register, and do not require a Budgetary Impact Statement from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The “other” category in my breakdown consisted entirely of announcements of acting cabinet and sub-cabinet positions, and appointments of cabinet and cabinet-level officials. Now let’s break the Actions down by category. The categories that I’ve selected are:

• Economy/Business/Trade: Actions relating to economic policy, trade agreements, regulation of businesses, and related financial matters.

• Immigration/Border Security: Actions focused on immigration laws, border control, refugee policies, and related enforcement.

• Government Operations/Personnel: Actions related to the internal workings of the government, personnel changes, administrative procedures, and restructuring.

• Environment/Energy: Actions concerning environmental regulations, energy policy, natural resources, and related issues.

• National Security/Foreign Policy: Actions concerning national defense, international relations, treaties, foreign aid, and responses to threats.

• Social Issues: Actions related to cultural, ethical, and societal matters, including civil rights, gender issues, and historical recognition.

• Symbolic/Commemorative: Actions related to national symbols, holidays, and recognitions.

• Legal/Justice System: Actions related to law enforcement, legal changes, court system actions, and criminal justice.

It’s difficult (and not particularly helpful) to try to limit each Action’s scope to a single category, so I’ve allowed for multiple categories for the Actions. The most active categories in Trump’s first day were “government operations/personnel” and “immigration/border security”, with 16 Actions falling into each category. This aligns with what we’ve heard from Trump before he took office - he has repeatedly stated that the federal government is inefficient and that America needs to reassess immigration policy.

Hitting the Undo Button

Trump’s Executive Order “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” acts as a bulk rescission of Biden’s EOs: Trump rescinds 67 Executive Orders and 11 Presidential Memoranda.

In addition, Trump explicitly revoked more than 20 prior Executive Orders, reversed the naming of Mount Denali (back to Mount McKinley), and rescinded certain regulations and policies.

In total, 7 of the 47 Presidential Actions taken yesterday (approximately 15%) focus on undoing prior policies, rather than taking new actions.

Technology Impact

Rescission of Executive Order 14110

The most direct and notable impact on technology that came out of yesterday’s Actions was the rescission Executive Order 14110 of October 30, 2023 (Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence). This Executive Order had outlined requirements for the safe and responsible development of AI. It explicitly established the US AI Safety Institute (US AISI) and directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish guidelines, benchmarks, and other resources related to the security, safety, and trustworthiness AI systems, particularly dual-use foundation models and generative AI. So what does the rescission mean for the US with respect to AI regulation?

Previously, all of the big players in AI development had joined the US AI Safety Institute, with OpenAI and Anthropic signing agreements with the Institute relating to model testing and evaluation. Will we see the US AI Safety Institute dismantled? What impact would this have on model availability and safety? It’s unlikely that Trump’s administration will be silent on this matter, but rather that they want to establish new focus and policies that support that. Based on Trump’s previous actions and comments on the matter, it’s likely that he will focus on policies that encourage America’s AI power, though it remains to be seen exactly how this will play out.

Establishment of DOGE

The Executive Order “Establishing and Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)” renames the prior US Digital Service to DOGE Service and establishes a temporary organization to facilitate the transition to this new department. Trump focuses on governmental efficiency through the use of modernized technology and improved data integrity. The Order directs every US agency to establish a DOGE team (which includes an HR specialist, an attorney, an engineer, and a DOGE Team Lead) within the next 30 days, making it clear that Trump is moving quickly on his goal to assess governmental agency efficiency. It will be interesting to see whether this plays out as purely technological modernization (unlikely), or if we will see more significant agency shakeups as the DOGE teams begin their work (the more likely outcome, in my opinion).

Pause on TikTok Shutdown

In the “Application of Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok” Executive Order, Trump orders the Attorney General and Department of Justice to refrain for 75 days from taking any action to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the “Act”) (Pub. L. 118-50, div. H), which had become effective the day before Trump took office. Given that Trump had previously discussed banning TikTok during his prior presidency, his statement that he wants to find a resolution that “protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans” is an interesting turn of perspective. We will likely hear more during this 75-day pause, not only with respect to TikTok specifically, but also with respect to intelligence, national security, and technology and China.

C-Suite and Board-Level Considerations

With a regime shift at the federal level, organizations must be prepared for the ensuing regulatory uncertainty; even where there is certainty, it can be challenging for organizations to quickly adapt to new requirements. The changing political landscape crosses multiple categories that impact businesses: from environmental regulations to trade policies, from potential supply change disruptions to DEI mandates. Awareness of these shifting political requirements and the ensuing global impact is essential to making good strategic and operational decisions.

Trump has been vocal about changes that he wants to make while in office: this makes it easier for boards and executives to spot areas that are ripe for change. While we may not yet know the specifics of how these will play out, organizations should be ready to adapt their governance and operations to adjust for changes.

Full Summary

If you’re interested in a summary of all of the Presidential Actions from January 20, 2025, I’ve included them here. These summaries are AI-generated, with an “ELI5” (Explain it to me like I’m 5) focus; these come from the ALEA Institute (The Institute for the Advancement of Legal and Ethical AI), where I am the Head of Governance. We have an open source project (usregs.ai) designed to make federal regulations easier to understand for the general public. We use artificial intelligence to provide clear explanations and highlight key points from US Federal Register regulations, and we’ve used the same process to summarize Trump’s Presidential Actions. Importantly, this means that the summary could be incorrect and should not be relied upon for legal purposes.

• Restoring The Death Penalty And Protecting Public Safety – The White House (Executive Order) - The President signed a paper saying that when someone commits a very terrible crime, the government should be allowed to use the death penalty as punishment. The order tries to make it easier for both the federal government and states to use this punishment.

• Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President wants government buildings to look nice and special, like important buildings from history. He’s asking people to make rules about how to design new government buildings so they look more beautiful and make people proud of their country.

• Organization of the National Security Council and Subcommittees – The White House (National Security Presidential Memorandum) - This document explains how the President organizes his team of advisors who help keep America safe. It’s like creating a special group of experts who meet regularly to discuss important safety issues and make plans to protect the country.

• Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness – The White House (Executive Order) - This is a rule that changes the names of some important places in America. It changes a mountain’s name back to Mount McKinley and renames the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America because the president wants these places to have names that honor American history.

• Reevaluating And Realigning United States Foreign Aid – The White House (Executive Order) - The President wants to check if the money America gives to help other countries is being used in the right way. For three months, they’re going to stop giving new money and look at all the programs to make sure they’re helping America’s friendships with other countries.

• Unleashing American Energy – The White House (Executive Order) - This order changes how America handles energy and the environment. It makes it easier to produce oil, gas, and coal, while removing rules that were meant to fight climate change. It’s like changing the rules of a game to focus more on making energy cheaper and less on protecting the environment.

• Declaring a National Energy Emergency – The White House (Executive Order) - The President is saying there’s an emergency because we don’t have enough energy in America, and this makes it hard to keep our country safe and strong. This order tells government workers to quickly build and fix things that help us make and move energy around our country.

• America First Trade Policy – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President wants to make sure other countries trade fairly with America and don’t take advantage of us. This is like making sure when you trade baseball cards with friends, both sides get a fair deal and no one cheats.

• Initial Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions – The White House (Executive Order) - The new President signed a paper that cancels lots of rules the last President made about things like climate change, immigration, and treating different groups of people fairly. It’s like erasing everything from the previous administration’s whiteboard to start fresh with new rules.

• Ending The Weaponization Of The Federal Government – The White House (Executive Order) - The President signed an order telling government agencies to look back at the last 4 years and check if anyone used their power unfairly to hurt people they disagreed with politically. It’s like having a referee check if someone broke the rules in a game that already happened.

• Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship – The White House (Executive Order) - This is a rule that says the government can’t tell people what they can or can’t say on the internet, and they’re going to look into times when the government might have done that before.

• Regulatory Freeze Pending Review – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - When a new President takes office, they want to pause and look at all the new rules that government agencies are working on. This memo tells all government departments to stop making new rules until the President’s new team can check them first.

• Protecting The United States From Foreign Terrorists And Other National Security And Public Safety Threats – The White House (Executive Order) - This is a rule that makes sure we carefully check people who want to come into our country to make sure they are safe and won’t hurt anyone. It’s like having a special door guard who checks everyone’s ID and makes sure they’re friendly before letting them in.

• Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President wants to change how water is shared in California. Instead of letting lots of water flow to the ocean to help fish survive, he wants to send more water to people in Southern California who need it for drinking and fighting fires.

• Holding Former Government Officials Accountable For Election Interference And Improper Disclosure Of Sensitive Governmental Information – The White House (Executive Order) - The President is taking away special permission from people who used to work for the government because they wrote a letter that wasn’t truthful during an election, and from someone who shared secret information in a book.

• America First Policy Directive To The Secretary Of State – The White House (Executive Order) - This is like a boss telling their workers that from now on, when making decisions about dealing with other countries, they need to think about what’s best for America first. It’s similar to saying ‘our family comes first’ when making important choices.

• Application Of Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act To TikTok – The White House (Executive Order) - The President signed an order to pause a new law that would shut down TikTok for 75 days. This gives the government time to study if TikTok is safe to use and try to find a way to keep it running while protecting Americans.

• President Trump Announces Sub-Cabinet Appointments – The White House (Presidential Action) - The President is picking new people to help run different parts of the government, like someone to be in charge of the FBI and someone to run the space agency NASA. These people need the Senate to say ‘yes’ before they can start their new jobs.

• Reforming The Federal Hiring Process And Restoring Merit To Government Service – The White House (Executive Order) - The President made new rules about how the government hires people for jobs. The rules say that the government should pick people who are really good at their jobs and care about following America’s rules, without choosing people based on things like their race or gender.

• Clarifying The Military’s Role In Protecting The Territorial Integrity Of The United States – The White House (Executive Order) - The President is telling the military to help protect America’s borders more than before. They’re supposed to make new plans to stop people from entering the country illegally and stop bad things like drugs from coming across the border.

• Withdrawing The United States From The World Health Organization – The White House (Executive Order) - The President decided that America should leave a big international health group called WHO because he thinks they didn’t do a good job during COVID-19 and it costs America too much money compared to other countries.

• Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President is pressing pause on building new wind farms in the ocean and on land. The government wants to study if these wind farms might hurt animals, cost too much money, or cause other problems before letting companies build more of them.

• Declaring A National Emergency At The Southern Border Of The United States – The White House (Presidential Proclamation) - The President is saying there’s a big emergency at the border between the United States and Mexico. He’s sending soldiers and building walls to help stop people from entering the country illegally and to catch bad people trying to bring drugs or harm Americans.

• Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship – The White House (Executive Order) - This order changes who gets to be an American citizen when they’re born in America. If someone’s mom isn’t allowed to be in America or is just visiting temporarily, and their dad isn’t an American citizen or permanent resident, their baby won’t automatically become an American citizen anymore.

• Hiring Freeze – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President told most government offices they can’t hire new workers for a while, except for important jobs like military and safety workers. It’s like pressing a pause button on hiring new people until they can figure out how to make the government smaller and work better.

• Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President is telling government workers to find ways to make things cost less money for families. They need to look at making houses, doctor visits, home appliances, and gas cheaper, and help more people get jobs.

• Securing Our Borders – The White House (Executive Order) - The President wants to make the country’s borders more secure by building walls, adding more guards, and making sure people who try to enter the country without permission are sent back home instead of being allowed to stay. It’s like making sure your house has strong locks and only letting in people who have permission to visit.

• Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential – The White House (Executive Order) - The President signed an order saying Alaska can use more of its natural resources like oil, gas, and minerals that are found in its land. This would help create jobs and make America less dependent on other countries for energy.

• President Trump Announces Acting Cabinet and Cabinet-Level Positions – The White House (Presidential Action) - The President picked temporary leaders to run different parts of the government until permanent leaders can be chosen. It’s like having substitute teachers run the school until new permanent teachers are hired.

• Memorandum to Resolve the Backlog of Security Clearances for Executive Office of the President Personnel – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President wrote a note saying that some new White House workers can’t do their jobs because they’re waiting too long for special permission to enter important areas. So the President is giving them temporary permission to work while they wait for their permanent permission.

• Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government – The White House (Executive Order) - This order says that for all government rules, there are only two types of people - boys/men and girls/women - based on how they were born. It changes rules that let people choose which group they belong to.

• Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President wants to make sure important government workers called Senior Executives do their jobs properly and follow instructions. If they don’t do a good job or don’t follow the rules, they can be moved to different jobs or even fired.

• Granting Pardons And Commutation Of Sentences For Certain Offenses Relating To The Events At Or Near The United States Capitol On January 6, 2021 – The White House (Proclamation) - The President used special powers given by the Constitution to forgive people who were in trouble for what happened at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Some people who were in jail will be let out, and others won’t be in trouble anymore.

• Flying The Flag Of The United States At Full-Staff On Inauguration Day – The White House (Proclamation) - The President made a rule that on Inauguration Day, which is when a new president takes office, all American flags should be raised all the way up on their flagpoles to show respect for this special day. After the celebration is over, the flags will go halfway down again to remember former President Carter who recently passed away.

• Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program – The White House (Executive Order) - The President is pressing pause on letting refugees come into America because some cities and towns say they’re having trouble taking care of all the new people arriving. The government will check every few months to see if it’s okay to start letting refugees in again.

• Putting America First In International Environmental Agreements – The White House (Executive Order) - The President signed a paper saying America will leave special agreements with other countries about helping the environment. Instead of following other countries’ rules about pollution and climate change, America will make its own decisions that put American jobs and money first.

• The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Tax Deal (Global Tax Deal) – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President wrote a note saying America won’t follow other countries’ tax rules unless Congress agrees to them. He also asked his team to watch out for other countries trying to be unfair to American companies with their tax rules.

• Designating Cartels And Other Organizations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations And Specially Designated Global Terrorists – The White House (Executive Order) - The President signed a paper that says dangerous criminal groups called cartels are like terrorists because they hurt people and bring drugs into our country. This lets the government use special laws to stop them and protect our country better.

• MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., FEDERAL HOLIDAY, 2025 – The White House (Proclamation) - The President made January 20, 2025, a special day to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who worked very hard to make sure everyone in America would be treated fairly and equally, no matter what they looked like.

• Establishing And Implementing The President’s ""Department Of Government Efficiency"" – The White House (Executive Order) - The President created a new team called DOGE to help make government computers and software work better together. It’s like having a group of tech experts help different government offices share their information and work more smoothly as a team.

• President Trump Designates Chairmen and Acting Chairmen – The White House (Presidential Action) - The President picked new leaders for different government groups that help run the country. Some leaders are permanent and some are temporary until new permanent leaders can be chosen.

• President Trump Announces Cabinet and Cabinet Level Appointments – The White House (Presidential Action) - The President has picked new leaders to help run different parts of the government, like someone picking team captains. Each person will be in charge of important things like schools, roads, or keeping the country safe, but they need the Senate to say ‘yes’ first.

• GUARANTEEING THE STATES PROTECTION AGAINST INVASION – The White House (Presidential Proclamation) - The President is saying that too many people are coming into the country illegally through the southern border, calling it an ‘invasion.’ He’s ordering that these people be stopped from entering and sent back to protect the country and help the states that are dealing with this problem.

• Return to In-Person Work – The White House (Presidential Memorandum) - The President is telling all government workers that they need to stop working from home and come back to their regular offices to work. Some workers might still be allowed to work from home if their bosses think it’s necessary.

• Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce – The White House (Executive Order) - The President wants to make it easier to fire government workers who don’t follow the rules or do their jobs properly, especially those who make important decisions. It’s like making sure the people who work for the President actually do what they’re supposed to do.

• Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing – The White House (Executive Order) - This is like a rule that says the government will stop having special programs that focus on making things fair for different groups of people. Instead, the government wants to treat everyone exactly the same way.

• Protecting The American People Against Invasion – The White House (Executive Order) - The President made new rules about people who come into America without permission. The rules say that police and government workers should work harder to find these people and make them follow the law or leave the country. They also want to build more places to keep people who break these rules until they can be sent back to their home countries.